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Overview
One night, anthropologist Cathy Winkler awoke from a deep sleep to discover a rapist standing by her bed. For the rest of that night, she lived a woman's worst nightmare as she was repeatedly raped and beaten by the stranger. The event changed her life into something resembling a Kafka novel: a justice system that bungled the case then blamed the victim, a social service system that provided no services or comfort, uneasy and awkward friends, exploitative media, and insensitive university administrators and colleagues. The pain of those four hours was dwarfed by the frustration of her decade-long fight to find the rapist and bring him to justice, ultimately through one of the first successful uses of DNA evidence in a rape case. Winkler, a brilliant observer and ethnographer, chronicles this struggle here—including her own growing awareness of her power to stare down district attorneys, to use the media to her own ends (including segments on 48 Hours and Court TV), and, ultimately through her persistence, to put the rapist behind bars for life. As a story of triumph over adversity, One Night is an inspirational work. And it provides a model of how researchers can turn the lens inward and incisively examine ourselves and our own world.
Synopsis
One night, anthropologist Cathy Winkler awoke from a deep sleep to discover a rapist standing by her bed. For the rest of that night, she lived a woman's worst nightmare as she was repeatedly raped and beaten by the stranger. The pain of those four hours was dwarfed by the frustration of her decade-long fight to find the rapist and bring him to justice. Winkler, a brilliant observer and ethnographer, chronicles her story of triumph over adversity. One Night is an inspirational work, and it provides a model of how researchers can turn the lens inward and incisively examine ourselves and our own world.
Booknews
Winkler uses her voices both as a cultural anthropologist and a rape-survivor to recount her experience of being attacked; of pursuing the attacker; of the social assault by those who offered both support and a challenge; and of the ideas of the judge, lawyers, and scientists who define justice in the US. She does not index her account. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Editorials
Contemporary Sociology
In this startling and brave personal examination of rape and its aftermath, Cathy Winkler asserts her own truth of sexual victimization and analyzes the ways in which a range of others make sense of the rape event and of her efforts to pursue justice...One Night makes important substantive contributions to the social science literature on rape and rape processing...Winkler's phenomenological account of her rape trauma will be useful to counselors and legal personnel...its value as an empirical contribution to the fields of sociology and anthropology cannot be overestimated. It would be a good addition to courses on the criminal justice processes, women's studies, criminology, and the sociology of emotion.— Amanda Konradi, Ohio University